California has a new official state shrub: the bigberry manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca). The designation took effect January 1, though few outside the state legislature may have noticed.
The choice raises an obvious question: Is it even a shrub?
Where the tree ends and the shrub begins
Botanists have spent centuries debating the difference. The U.S. National Park Service offers a simple rule: “shrubs are smaller than trees.” The ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus, writing around 350 B.C.E., defined a tree as a plant with a single stem and a shrub as one with many branches. But even he admitted the line blurs under cultivation—some shrubs grow tree-like trunks, while some trees sprout multiple stems.
Related: Parking firm sorry for ticketing dead woman
Wikipedia, a slightly more recent authority, concedes the same ambiguity. The bigberry manzanita, for its part, can grow 20 feet tall and develop a thick, single stem—traits that might qualify it as a tree. California, however, has already claimed the redwood as its official tree. Calling the manzanita a shrub avoids the awkwardness of competing titles.
Legislatures have a long history of sidestepping such contradictions. Alabama, for example, has both an official insect (a butterfly) and a separate official butterfly. The distinction, if it exists, is lost on most residents.
Why a shrub? Why now?
The legislation behind the designation, AB 581, faced skepticism from the start. A March 2025 legislative memo questioned the necessity: California already has dozens of official symbols, from a state crustacean to four official nuts. “At what point does adding additional symbols make the designation meaningless?” the memo asked, italicizing the plea for emphasis. It also noted that resolutions, rather than full legislation, could achieve the same recognition with less bureaucracy.
The concerns went unheeded. The bill passed unanimously.
Related: Lawyers to Get Compulsory Training at IIULER
The trend reflects a broader pattern: states adopting symbols not out of urgent necessity, but because someone, somewhere, cared enough to propose it. The bigberry manzanita, native to California’s chaparral ecosystems, likely earned its status through advocacy from botanists or conservation groups. Its designation, like many before it, serves less as a practical tool and more as a nod to state identity—a gesture that costs little but also accomplishes little beyond the gesture itself.
For Californians who encounter the plant in the wild, the new title changes nothing. The manzanita will continue to grow, indifferent to its official status, while the legislature moves on to the next symbol. The real question isn’t whether the state needed a shrub, but whether anyone will remember it a year from now.
The state code now lists the bigberry manzanita alongside the California grizzly bear (extinct since 1922) and the state dinosaur (Augustynolophus morrisi). The shrub, at least, is still alive.
